Will it Hold A Charge?

In this 2-day lesson plan focused on exponents, middle schoolers will cross the curriculum by engaging in science, history and language arts activities. Exponential growth will be explored using grains of rice on a chess board....

Can you hear it now? Young scientists experiment with sound waves using metal objects and string. They strike metal objects while they hold them and as the objects hang from a string to compare the sound. They discover that sound travels...

Create a charge in the classroom. Using pieces of cellophane tape, a plastic grocery bag, and a balloon, learners investigate the effects of static electricity. Pupils create different charges in the materials and observe whether they...

Students discover and identify positive and negative electrical charges and understand that like repels and opposite charges attract.  In this physics instructional activity, students observe how friction can be used to give...

Go fly a kite, then fly a plane! The 19th part of a 22-part unit on aviation looks at the way kites and gliders help aid in the understanding of flight. Pupils discuss how engineers used kites to influence airplane designs.

Learners of light will construct a contraption in which light is passed through a prism and shone into a box. The temperatures at different points along the path and outside of the path of light. The intent is to imitate William...

The electromagnetic spectrum includes everything from very powerful gamma rays (which are used to treat cancer) to much weaker radio waves (which include microwaves). Through a hands-on activity, scholars explore the temperature...

Polyester clothing was generally accepted as a popular trend in fashion at one point in history. Now everybody wears cotton, which doesn't get static cling nearly as much. Why are some materials more susceptible to static cling than...

Learn what happens to different populations of organisms as their ecosystem changes. Design your own experiment and make your own guesses with what the result will be with this virtual ecosystem. Also experiment with producer/consumer...

In this fascinating episode, Mr. Spangler uses cornstarch and water to create a solution known as "non-Newtonian" solution, meaning that the solution doesn't behave in the way that Newton's laws would expect it to. This is one of the...